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agricultural life for the inhabitants of Eptakomi. She
mentions:
'Drought was always a very serious problem, and
occurred unpredictably. In 1887 the people in
the Carpas were in some distress as a
consequence of a bad harvest the previous summer'.
'On the 4th of April 1887, the High Commissioner
reported that there had been no rain in the
island for six weeks, and very little during the
two months before that'.
'He enclosed a note dated 29th March 1887 from
the local Commissioner who stated that villagers
in the Carpas were asking permission to leave
the island, since there was no food and work'.
'The next enclosure (dated 30th March) explained
that in the previous drought of 1871 the
moneylenders had supplied corn but were refusing
to do so now, since the villagers were too much
in debt already'.
The High Commissioner made a personal visit to
the Carpas and sent a long report to London on
the 30th May 1887. The 1887 map that accompanied
that report showed what fraction of an average
harvest the Carpas villages expected:
Red circles = one half
Blue circles = one quarter (Eptakomi was in this
category)
Yellow circle = less than one quarter
Gole says 'The villages worst affected were
those east of Galatea and Eptakomi, with the
exceptionof Rhizocarpaso'. The map also tells us
that the population of Eptakomi in 1887 was 486
persons. |
